Reserve Officers (Japanese: 予備将校, romanized: Yobi-shōkō) were university or college graduates, as opposed to going through the naval academy.
The rank Commodore was not established but the Captain who was commanding the central ship in the fleet, usually close to being promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral, or acting as the unit commander (which was usually held by a Rear Admiral) nominally became a flag officer by raising the "Commodore Flag".
See the table below for details regarding the cadet/WO ranks and insignia: e.g., Apprentice surgeon (Medical branch) For seamen and petty officers, which were selected from enlisted men or conscripts and given training in the Navy's service/technical school, the names were different from the army names but were equal in rank.
[11][page needed] After the changes in 1942, the insignia was a black patch that was square-shaped on the top and arrow-shaped on the bottom.
For all ranks there was also a cherry blossom in the middle, which changed its colour based on the branch; for example, light blue represented aviation.
For officers, including midshipmen, it was the colour of cloth placed as background to the cuff stripes, on both sides of the gold lace on the shoulder boards, and as longitudinal piping on the collar patches.
[16] The branch of enlisted men was denoted by the colour of the cherry blossom flower on their rank patch; line personnel using the default gold.